Page 71 of Home Team Advantage
“Or better yet, take a page out of your dad’s playbook and whisk her away from here and go for a scenic drive.”
“It was a boat,” Kieran said with a smile. “And Matt remembers. He was there.”
* * *
Taryn was tending bar with Jack Callaghan, the patriarch of the clan. They both smiled knowingly when he showed up on Sunday. Inwardly, Matt was as anxious as the day he’d left for basic.
“Go on up,” Taryn told him. “They’re waiting for you.”
Kieran had refused to say anything more on the subject. None of them did. In fact, they’d ignored him, except for occasional comments about what a dumbass he was for not getting together with Anna.
Their words had played on a loop in his head though. Had they really had eyes on him the whole time? To have that level of access to classified information required a security clearance that not even he had. Although it might explain how he’d made it through one or two encounters he definitely shouldn’t have survived.
Suddenly, he knew how former SEALs were able to walk away from their teams, return to their small town, and have normal lives. Because they hadn’t really walked away. They’d found a way to continue to use their skills, but on their own terms. Sean’s cautionary tale about avenging angels made a whole lot more sense now.
All of the brothers were there in the man cave, even Kane. So was Sean’s wife, Nicki. And Danny Donovan, a cousin from a branch of the family tree they hadn’t known existed until six months ago. Danny was closer to Matt’s age than the brothers’.
“Take a seat,” Jake said.
He did. He was glad he had, too, as Jake filled him in, with occasional additions by the others. How their father had created the team. How they’d figured out that they could satisfy their innate need to protect and serve on their own terms. How they worked together as a team and had been doing so for years.
“It’s going to be time to pass the mantle soon,” Jake said. “Some of our sons—and daughters—have expressed an interest in continuing the family business, but they’re nowhere near ready. But you are.”
“That doesn’t mean we’re retiring,” Sean clarified. “But we realize it might be time to take a half step back and start passing on some of our expertise.”
“We work with the founders of Sanctuary too. They’re good guys,” Ian said.
“But they’re not family,” Kane said in his deep, growly voice.
“What we’re saying is,” Shane said, “you don’t have to choose between who you love and what you love to do. You can have it all, if you want it.”
Matt looked at Kieran, who hadn’t said a word the entire time. “Dad?”
Kieran blinked. Matt rarely called him that. He’d just been Kieran before he married Faith, and it had felt awkward to call him anything else afterward. Now, not so much.
“If you have to ask what I think,” Kieran said, his voice thick with emotion, “then you haven’t been paying attention.”
“Take some time to think about it,” Jake said.
“But just so you know,” Ian piped up with a smirk, “if you say no, we will have to kill you.”
Chapter Forty-One
ANNA
Summer had finally come to Pine Ridge, and it was every bit as beautiful as Anna had imagined it would be. The mountain laurel and honeysuckle were blooming, adding a heady perfume to the air, especially at night. The trees were in full bloom. Anna didn’t think she’d ever seen so many shades of green—from the deep dark green of the pines to the blue-green of the spruce and the silvery-green of the maples.
She’d taken to sitting out on the patio each evening, the pots filled to bursting with colorful blooms, to watch the lightning bugs. Her favorite time was after twilight and before night fell completely. By mid-June, there were so many of them dancing around that they looked like a blinking, shimmering, shifting blanket hovering just above the ground.
Mrs. Campbell was thriving. The physical therapy program had done wonders for her balance issues. She still used her wheelchair occasionally, but more often than not, she was zipping around with a custom walker Nicki Callaghan—who owned a garage with her husband in town—had built for her. It had blue racing stripes.
Anna had met Nicki at the barbecue, and … wow. Talk about a gorgeous, badass female.
Anna had met all the Callaghan wives, in fact. They’d come with their husbands and kids to Mrs. Campbell’s party. Rather than being a neighborhood affair, this one was just for the Callaghans and their families. And, boy, there were a lot of them. The brothers were tall and broad and shared dark hair and blue eyes. Their wives were more varied, both in physical appearance and in personality. The kids, a mix of both.
The one thing every couple had in common? They were perfectly matched. Two halves of a whole.
She supposed that was the croie thing Matt had been talking about. She hadn’t understood it then, but she did now.
